Hello Stranger
by Lover's End
Summary: Coming down from the balloon, Isadora doesn't feel like she knows the Baudelaires anymore. [Quagmires, Baudelaires.]


**Hello Stranger**

**Okay. So I was bored. I've been working on a new fic and this was just a side effect from writing it.**

Isadora stumbled out of the air mobile home. It had been so long, so long...

She was finally going to see them, the Baudelaires. Her friends, her friends...

They stood there, awkwardly. Isadora realized how long it had been since they had really seen the Baudelaires. Violet's hair was a long and tangled mess. Klaus's glasses were lopsided. Sunny had grown amazingly tall.

Who _were_ these people?

"Baudelaires!" said Quigley, coming out of the hot air home. Isadora was shocked to note just how...how _pleased_ Violet looked to see him. She shot a glance at Duncan. His face was impassive. Either he was over Violet, or a very good actor. Violet hugged Quigley, the beam on her face enough to light a whole room.

Blushing, they stepped apart and Violet turned to face Isadora and Duncan. "You...oh...my...gosh...Isadora! Duncan!" She rushed forward and hugged them both. Isadora couldn't help but feel glad. It felt so good to be with other people again.

Klaus stepped forward next, looking a little uncomfortable. "We thought we'd never see you again," he said, smiling a little. Isadora laughed and hugged him. Maybe boys weren't as huggy as girls, because Duncan and Klaus just sort of gave each other a one-armed hug and turned to the next person.

It felt weird to be seeing them again, to slip back into the comfort of being with friends. But no matter how hard Isadora tried, she couldn't see them as the people she knew at Prufrock Prep; the people who had worked so hard with them to unveil Olaf's treachery.

"Well..." Quigley said, stepping back. Isadora took in the scene they made. Six ragged children, tired and hardened by loss and disaster. So hard to believe that some months previously they seemed to think they were invincible, and then were dragged away and seperated as their destinies sang different songs for the soundtrack of their life.

Even so, they had somehow found each other.

Violet beamed again and Isadora was dragged back to the present, away from the disturbing memories of being shoved into a car and reaching for Klaus's hand to try to get out but to no avail, of being stuffed in a birdcage at the bottom of an elevator and seeing them again but only to be whisked away once more, of being separated for so many times.

Now, now it seemed they could never be seperated. But she knew now that in the last moment they would be pulled away from each other.

"Have you been writing any more couplets, Isadora?" Violet asked, and Isadora winced. Didn't Violet remember about what had happened in V.F.D?

"Well...um...my notebook got destroyed, remember?" Isadora hated having to talk about it.

Violet's face, to its credit, flamed red with embarrassment. "I'm sorry. I, uh, forgot."

Isadora looked down. "It's okay."

"What have you guys been up to since we floated away?" Duncan asked, coming to the rescue.

As the Baudelaires talked and Duncan nodded, Isadora began to feel detached. These were her friends! Her very best friends!

But if they were, why was she at a loss for conversation? Why could she only nod like a dummy and smile as if she was happy for all they had achieved? Why wasn't she overjoyed that she was reunited with her friends?

Maybe because they didn't really feel like her friends.

While they were up in the clouds, the Baudelaires had been doing valuable research. They had made new friends, developed new interests. Sunny liked cooking now it seemed, and Isadora felt left out. The last time she had seen Sunny, she had been a biting baby who could hardly talk. Everything had become so warped and out of shape while they had been gone. The Baudelaires had changed so much, and the Quagmires weren't changing with them.

"Well!" Violet said, clasping her hands together. "Did you miss us?"

**I don't think I did a very good job with this, but I'll leave that up to you guys. Reviews make my day. Woo.**

**- Emily**


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